


where the daisies bloom

by driftingashes



Series: Quarantine Fics Because I Have No Inspiration [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & October | Toby Sanders are Siblings, Brothers, Creativitwins, Dragon Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dragon Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Dragon Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dragons, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Human Sacrifice, Janus is such a mom, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Kid Fic, Kid Logic | Logan Sanders, Kid Morality | Patton Sanders, Kid Thomas Sanders, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Siblings, Shapeshifting, Virgil is smol but fierce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingashes/pseuds/driftingashes
Summary: Their village bordered the forest, and everyone knew what that meant - giving up something of value to the dragons once every year, whether the harvest be good or poor, lest they risk the fury of the Winged Ones. The townspeople had long ago stopped putting out salted meat or bawling lambs. In their place, they picked a child, selected from birth to be the sacrifice as soon as they turned thirteen.None had ever returned.(AKA the dragons adopt a buttload of kids and raise them in the forest with their hatchlings. Chaos ensues.)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Quarantine Fics Because I Have No Inspiration [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021543
Comments: 22
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan knew from as soon as he was old enough to understand his mother that he was Marked for a sacrifice.

Logan knew from as soon as he was old enough to understand his mother that he was Marked for a sacrifice. It didn't bother him too much, except for how everyone avoided his gaze in the market like he had the plague. And none of the boys his age wanted to play with him either. He once complained to his mother about the unfairness of it, and she had pulled him close to her, weeping. "I know, little star. I know."

He was nearly twelve when the rumours started: the dragons were returning early for their yearly sacrifice. Preparations were rushed, and the little boy chosen for that year (Patton, Logan's oldest friend) was sent off with a hurried goodbye to his mother and a small piece of smoked meat wrapped in lettuce leaf for his noon meal. His blue eyes were wide and scared behind his wire glasses, a grey cloak pulled tight about his shoulders.

Logan couldn't help it. When Patton caught his gaze, he very slowly help up the chain around his neck. Patton smiled shakily, reaching for his neck and holding up his own. The boys had made little steel rings, a sort of promise. A vow that they would one day see each other again.

Someone shoved past Logan roughly, calling up to Patton, "make haste, boy, they approach!" and with a final terrified glance at Logan, Patton turned and disappeared into the trees. Logan cleared his throat, trying to push down the tears welling up in his eyes.

Logan slept on his mother's old cot that night - she had taken ill just a little under a month before and never recovered. His mother's sister had run off with a trader years back, and without any living relatives left to take him in, he kept his mouth shut and learned how to steal from the marketplaces.

With him being Marked, he knew better than to try and ask someone to take him under their wing, not even Patton's family. They were kind enough, but their son was Marked as well, and how cruel would it have been to ask them to lose not one but two children in the span of less than two years?

And so, he waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you alright, little one?" the dragon asked, and Patton yelped, dropping his food in shock. His head whipped up, and he froze when he saw the dragon's large golden eye fixed on him, peering down at him like a cat would a rodent. "I'm going to bring you back to my sisters. I think they'll like you."

Patton ducked under a branch as he hurried towards the clearing where the dragons would be waiting. A smaller branch slapped his cheek, leaving a thin line of blood, but he ignored the stinging pain in favor of tucking his necklace back under his shirt.

He was so preoccupied with readjusting his cloak that he tripped over a tree root and went hurtling towards the ground. There was a crash to his left, and a sudden rush of wingbeats. Patton didn't even have time to brace himself for an impact before a dragon's wing broke his fall, gingerly lifting him into the air. The black wings, edged by the faintest trace of gold, were softer and silkier than he thought a wing would be. He'd thought they would be leathery and rough.

"Are you alright, little one?" the dragon asked, and Patton yelped, dropping his food in shock. His head whipped up, and he froze when he saw the dragon's large golden eye fixed on him, peering down at him like a cat would a rodent. "I'm going to bring you back to my sisters. I think they'll like you."

Patton squirmed. "You can talk?"

The dragon laughed, a strange noise that was oddly human. "I can indeed. Now, time is wasting. You should meet the others."

"Others?"

"What do you think we do with the hatchlings your human clans give us? Eat them for a sunhigh snack??" The dragon chuckled, but Patton tensed uneasily at the thought. The dragon obviously felt it, for his rumbling laughter stopped abruptly and he sighed, the ripple of muscles as he did nearly throwing Patton off his perch on the wing.

"I see. You have been gravely misinformed, little hatchling. We take them in. We know that the humans would only send another if we tried to return the hatchlings, would see it as us rejecting their 'sacrifice.' Although I say that if the humans are so willing to give us their hatchlings in the first place, did they ever truly care for their young at all?"

Patton didn't have an answer for that, and the dragon seemed to sense that, urging Patton to climb onto his armored back. "How do you feel about flying, little hatchling?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus swooped up and effortlessly fell into a flawless curving dive towards the ground, making Patton whoop with exhilarated fear. Janus rumbled a laugh again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact: in the original draft, Janus addressed the kids as "young [name]" but I scrapped it because every time I wrote it I was giggling hysterically thinking of Janus saying "young Midoriya!" and I was cracking up so bad I could hardly write.
> 
> Janus Sanders as All Might is the crack crossover we never knew we needed. Please lmk if somone ever does that. Please.
> 
> ~Ash

Flying was...amazing. He could see forever, an endless sea of green treetops and blue sky. He could even see the lake between his village and the next, a blue shimmer between the trees in the distance.

"Wooo!"

A thought occured to him, suddenly. "Mr. Dragon? Does that mean I get to see Logan next year?" he yelled towards the dragon's ear, hoping the winds wouldn't tear his words away.

"If he is next year's gift to us, then indeed you shall, little hatchling," the dragon replied. "And my name is Janus, no need for such formalities!"

"I'm Patton!"

"Hile, hatchling Patton. Long days and pleasant nights," Janus replied.

"You talk funny sometimes," the boy observed.

"Tis a greeting from a human book," Janus explied. "A book about a man from another wold, a gunslinger called Roland, seeking a man in black and a great Dark Tower that lies beyond them. He must travel on across lands unknown with his companions, Jake and Eddie and Susannah, to reach the end of his quest."

Patton grinned. "How does it end?"

"Read them for yoursef, if you'd like. We have many human stories in our caves."

Patton clapped happily. "Books! Logan is going to love it here. Books are held in high regard back in the village. They're quite rare." He slumped as yet another thought hit him square in the chest. "Logan is all alone now. His mother died during the epidemic earlier this spring."

The dragon sadddened at that. "A motherless hatchling...the poor child. We will make him feel welcome, hatchling Patton, fear not. He will have a home among us for as long as he wishes."

"Thank you...Janus."

"My pleasure, hatchling Patton. Hold tight, now, we've nearly arrived."

Janus swooped up and effortlessly fell into a flawless curving dive towards the ground, making Patton whoop with exhilarated fear. Janus rumbled a laugh again. "Having fun?" he asked. Patton just yelled again, resisting the urge to splay his arms out feel the wind. He didn't exactly have a stable seat.

They landed gracefully in a small clearing not visible from above the canopy. Janus allowed Patton to slide down from his back, and snorted with amusement as the boy stared at the other dragons, awestruck.

And then children started to emerge from the caves leading into the ground, some looking barely older than Patton himself, and some much older, adults.

”Thirty four years since the human clan by the border started to give us their children, and thirty two since we stopped trying to give them back,” Janus said. “If they will not take them, we will keep them safe. They are cared for and loved here. We raise them alongside our own hatchlings. It’s a nice change from the humans who would harm us for our scales.”

"They live without fear of the dragons," Patton realized. "They're happy. Gods above, look at them."

"We provide what we can. And while we cannot give them their families back, we can give them another. We can make them feel safe and accepted. We have no biases, no hate against those who are different. Humans are odd in that regard, always hating and fearing and killing when they cannot seem to comprehend that there are subjects beyond their own small intellect," Janus snorted.

"But never mind that," Janus offered, form rippling as he shifted into a tall, slender, humanoid figure. He reached for Patton, smiling gently. "Come, now, little Patton. Would you like to meet the other hatchlings?"

Patton smiled back widely, reaching out without hesitation and taking Janus's hand. "I'd love to."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Patton? You know where Patton is?"  
> "He is safe with us, yes. What is your name?"  
> "Logan."  
> Janus smiled. "Come, hatchling Logan. We must fly swift. It is late, and you are cold."  
> Logan hesitated a moment more. "You promise I get to see Patton?" he asked.

Logan shivered as he stepped forward. He was finally thirteen, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't scared at the thought of what came next. The townspeople stared at him as he walked down the path, slowly making his way up to the edge of the forest, where Patton's mother stood. She had agreed instantly to see him off in place of his own mother, and the small act of kindness had Logan's eyes welling up with tears.

"If you see my boy, tell him I love him," she whispered in his ear as she hugged him tightly. "Just as I love you, Logan. Please remember that."

"I'll remember," he choked, pulling away as the town grew restless. He turned, scanning the crown one more time, and turned, ducking into the trees.

Janus landed heavily, scaring the child. He looked similar to hatchling Patton when he'd first joined them the leaf-gone before, wide eyes behind his gasses and a torn cloak wrapped hastily about his thin shoulders, frame scrawny and shivering from the cold.

During the Freeze was always the worst season to try bringing back a child, but the villagers had clamoured that the child was old enough. Most of the hatchlings sent by the humans were in leaf-gone, although several had come during snow melt. They'd never had a hatchling join them during scorch-sun.

"Hello, little hatchling. I'm not here to harm you."

The boy stared up at him, blue eyes shining with tears. He sniffled. "You aren't going to eat me, then?" he asked quietly.

Janus shook his head, huffing gently. His breath formed a cloud that briefly obscured the hatchling before him. "We do not eat the hatchlings. We raise them. Now come, the sun is low, and your Patton misses you terribly."

The boy blinked, suddenly bolt upright. "Patton? You know where Patton is?"

"He is safe with us, yes. What is your name?"

"Logan."

Janus smiled. "Come, hatchling Logan. We must fly swift. It is late, and you are cold."

Logan hesitated a moment more. "You promise I get to see Patton?" he asked.

"I give you my word you will see your friend again, hatchling Logan. Fret not, we haave no intention of lying to you. And you are not a prisoneer, you are allowed to leave whenever you wish. But I will request that you allow us to give you a bed for the night and some better clothes. Yours are ill suited for the Freeze in the forest. It is much colder than in the villages."

"Thank you," Logan whispered, scrambling up onto Janus's back. "You're very kind."

Janus huffed a laugh, smoke curling from his nose. "If you think I'm kind, you'll love the others."

"Others?"

"Yes, others. There are many of us within the darker confines of the unexplored. We are undisturbed, allowed to live in peace with the children the human clan has give us."

Logan leaned against him. "I mis Patton."

Janus launched himself into the air, feeling Logan's arms tighten just the slightest bit before relaxing again as he slumped back against Janus's neck. "You'll see him again soon," Janus soothed. "For now, rest, hatchling. You've been through much, but you are safe now. My sisters and I shall protect you, that I promise."


End file.
